(LEFT) Manipur agriculture minister O Lukohi after winning Wangoi AC on November 10. BJP candidate Paonam Brojen Singh wins Wangjing Tentha AC. (NNN Photos)
Newmai News Network
Imphal | November 11
The ruling BJP registered a landslide victory as the party secured four of the five assembly constituencies on Tuesday where bye-election were held on November 7.
It can be mentioned here that the saffron party first opened its account ahead of the voting as one of its candidates who contested at Singhat assembly constituency in Churachandpur district was elected uncontested after his lone rival independent candidate withdrew his nomination paper.
The counting of votes for the four assembly constituencies spread over three districts of the state was held on Tuesday. The counting was held at the district headquarters of the respective constituencies.
With the final results of all the four assembly constituencies came in this afternoon, BJP candidates won in three seats –Wangoi, Wangjing-Tentha and Saitu constituencies--- and in Lilong constituency, where BJP did not field its candidate, an Independent candidate won.
In Lilong constituency, BJP backed independent candidate Md Abdul Nasir whose resignation from the state Assembly as Congress MLA prompted the conduct of the by-poll. But, he lost the election. Independent candidate Y Antas Khan won the Lilong seat. He defeated Nasir by a huge margin of 3,078 votes. Antas Khan secured 17,106 votes while Nasir secured 14,028 votes.
In this constituency, Congress suffered a humiliating defeat as its candidate Md Azizul Haque Khan secured only 142 votes.
In Wangjing-Tentha constituency of Thoubal district, ex-MLA Paonam Brojen who contested the by-poll on BJP ticket retained the seat by defeating his nearest rival M Hemanta of Congress by a margin of 1,513. Brojen secured 15,321 while Hemanta got 13,808. Three candidates were in the fray in this constituency. Independent candidate S Manaobi got 331 votes while 156 voters pressed the NOTA button.
In Wangoi assembly constituency of Imphal West district, BJP candidate Oinam Lukhoi who was inducted as cabinet minister ahead of the by-poll retained the seat by defeating his nearest rival Kh Loken Singh of the National People’s Party (NPP) by a small margin of 257 votes. Lukhoi got a total of 10960 votes while Loken managed to secure 10703 votes. Congress candidate Salam Joy secured 5,591 out of 27,370 valid votes and 96 went to NOTA in the constituency.
The by-poll in this constituency was held after Lukhoi resigned as Congress MLA to join BJP.
For the Saitu assembly constituency of Kangpokpi district where the results were received late in the evening, BJP candidate Ngamthang Haokip retained the seat which he had vacated as Congress MLA before joining BJP. He defeated his nearby rival Congress candidate Dr Lamtinthang Haokip by a huge margin of 12,144 votes. Ngamthang secured 24,394 votes while Lamtinthang got 12,250 votes. The by-poll in this constituency was a straight fight between the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress.
Meanwhile, of the four assembly constituencies where the by-polls were conducted on November 7 and counting took place Tuesday, BJP candidates won in three constituencies and the remaining one went to an independent candidate. As mentioned earlier, the BJP candidate was declared elected uncontested in Singhat constituency before election i.e. before November 7, after the lone rival candidate withdrew his candidature.
The opposition Congress could not retain a single seat even as the party secured all the five seats in the 2017 elections to the state Assembly.
The by-polls in these constituencies were conducted after the Congress MLAs resigned from the state Assembly on August 10, 2020 ahead of a confidence motion of the BJP-led coalition government that was discussed in the house of state Assembly.
